How - Dov Seidman [136]
VALUES IN ACTION
Values-based self-governance begins, of course, with values, a clearly articulated set of principles that define the nature and purpose of an organization in human terms. At GE/Durham, they use the phrase “Guiding Principles,” and it titles a document they consider their constitution. 20 In it, they articulate values of diversity and respect, a commitment to a learning and teaching culture, a dedication to keeping promises, responsibility for the environment, and an attitude toward resolving conflict in a way that corrects and not punishes unacceptable behavior. At Sewell Automotive, they have their “guiding spirits”: Act Professionally in Everything You Do, Be Genuinely Caring, and Maintain the Highest Ethical Standard. These values form the basis for its entire culture. Every structure, process, and decision in both these groups flows from their commitment to a set of HOWs.
Sewell and GE/Durham are relatively small enterprises, so a natural question to ask is: “How can this work for a big corporation?” Luckily, we have examples around us both old and new. Johnson & Johnson has long been a leader in integrating values into its corporate culture. Robert Wood Johnson, the son of the founder, who later became known as General Johnson after his service as a brigadier general in World War II, took over direction of the company in 1932 and 10 years later wrote a one-page document that came to be known as the Credo. It codified the company’s socially responsible approach to conducting business.21 The Credo states that the company’s first responsibility is to the people who use its products and services; the second responsibility is to its employees; the third is to the community and environment; and the fourth is to the stockholders. This revolutionary document upended the traditionally held view that a company’s first responsibility is to its shareholders. General Johnson and his successors in managing the business have believed that if the Credo’s first three responsibilities are met, the stockholders should be well served.
Since the day it was written, the Credo has become a living, breathing part of everything J&J does, not because it sits framed on the wall of every office, but because it sits enshrined in the day-to-day discussions of everyone at the company. “We don’t talk about the Credo for five minutes in every meeting,” Roger Fine of J&J told me. “We have no such rule. The way I first heard about the Credo when I joined the company in 1974 is more typical. I was in a meeting with about 8 or 10 executives and all of the sudden somebody said, ‘That’s a Credo issue.’ That’s a classic line at J&J, and it acts like a trump card. When somebody says, ‘That’s a Credo issue,’ the conversation stops, whatever the business subject is, and the entire conversation turns to ‘Okay, let’s talk about the Credo issue. What is the issue? What are the pros and cons? What’s the dilemma?’ if there is an initial dilemma. Then we try to resolve it.”22
When Roger first told me this, it sounded like the Credo was a burden, an extra tax on the system that needed to be periodically paid. I pointed out to him that business moves quickly, and no one wants to be encumbered by the albatross of having to stop a meeting to discuss this extra thing. “I travel around the world each year speaking to dozens of groups about the Credo,” he explained to me. “When I do, I usually talk about four or five misconceptions people have about it, and I save this one for last. This is the craziest fallacy of them all. We want to be real hard competitors, and we want to compete, and that’s what everybody at J&J should do. But they need to do it informed and inspired by the Credo. The last sentence of the Credo, you